How Chris Slagle Turned a Family Joke Into a Santa Tradition

By day, Chris Slagle works as a quality control inspector at Paul Mueller Company, where he’s spent the better part of 20 years over four separate stints. Come holiday season, he trades in the shop floor for sleigh bells, transforming into Santa Claus. Alongside his wife, Tracy, as Mrs. Claus, Slagle plays Saint Nick at parades, private parties and community events.

The Santa side hustle started almost by accident. Five years ago—as a joke—Slagle’s daughters gifted him and Tracy Santa and Mrs. Claus outfits for a family photo shoot. His sons donned inflatable reindeer suits, and his daughters dressed as what he calls “slightly more fashionable reindeer.”

Slagle says: “All my kids have great senses of humor.” The pictures came back just before Halloween, and he saw an opportunity. He already had a natural white beard, after all. When trick-or-treaters showed up, Santa greeted them. “It freaked them out, blew their mind,” Slagle says with a laugh. “I had the suit, so why not lean into it more?”

Lean in he did. A chance encounter at his wife’s nail salon with Spangle the Clown—a fellow professional Santa who happens to run Stuff for Santa, a Fair Grove-based mobile business—was “another sign,” Slagle says. Soon he joined the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, bought prescription “Santa glasses” and added four Santa suits to his wardrobe. Slagle’s real beard and what he jokingly calls his “Santa physique” complete the look.

People’s reactions fuel him most. At one elementary school, parents cried when their son, who is on the autism spectrum and typically avoids physical contact, surprised everyone by asking Santa for a hug. Those moments, Slagle says, make the gig special.

“I know what Christmas is really about,” he says. “It’s not about me in a red suit, but I enjoy the kids. I don’t look at it from a business standpoint. Kind of like music. They don’t pay me to play. They pay me to set up and tear down. I’d play for free. I love playing, and I love playing Santa.” That’s right, being Kris Kringle is only one of Slagle’s side gigs. He’s also a drummer in two Branson bands: Donnie Ray Stevens and Tri County Hair Club for Men, and plays at church three times most weekends.